In Least Surprising News, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Is #1 at the Box Office

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has beaten both its competitors and (narrowly) its box office expectations with a $ 145 million opening weekend in the US. That represents a 54% improvement on the first Guardians’ opening weekend, which totaled $ 94.3 million back in 2014. Once the totals have been confirmed, Vol. 2 will hold the record for the 17th biggest opening in U.S. history, between the $ 142 million opening for Twilight: New Moon and the $ 147 million for Furious 7.

Early indications from international markets like Brazil, France, and Mexico were pretty great, so this isn’t exactly surprising. However, Vol. 2 did even better in the all-important Chinese market this weekend, opening 75% ahead of its predecessor.

Vol.2 also performed well throughout the weekend, without a sharp drop-off. After taking in $ 56 million on Friday, the film also took in $ 51 million on Saturday. As Forbes observed, “It’s rare that a movie’s Saturday has that kind of performance after a strong Friday, so word of mouth has certainly been strong.”

We’ll have to see how the next weekend goes, but so far, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 looks like it’ll leave Marvel and Disney very happy indeed. However, as Variety argued, director James Gunn is probably the person who might be happiest. “[These] big numbers represent quite a transition for Gunn,” wrote Seth Kelley, “who, before signing on to direct the first Guardians, was mostly known as a B-movie director. The most that one of Gunn’s movies had made at the box office before Guardians was 2002’s live-action Scooby Doo and its sequel.”

Have you seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 yet? Did you enjoy it? How does it compare to the first film? Sound off in the comments!